Before Dawn
by Gonra
Summary: Destiny? Some would call it that. Sheer chance others would say, whatever the reason was, it happened, and now, in order to find his lost friends, one traveller wil have to face the challenges awaiting him in the pokémon world. Tf fic. Rated T for safety.
1. Prologue

This is a little idea that came to me a little while ago, I don't have much worked out but I decided to give it a try. I would like to dedicate this fanfic to all my friends back in Spain, reason why I'm trying to make characters loosely based on the members of the corner (our corner), except for me (since I will not degrade myself by doing some lame self-insertion), although some might have some trouble reading it, since not all of them speak a great english, but I think they'll understand it.

As always, I thank my friend and betareader casju, for making sure that words like rhdduing don't see the light of the internet.

I don't own Pokémon (well, except for some games, but you know what I mean).

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Prologue: The Traveller**

Silver Mountain, Mt. Silver, Monte Plateado, Monte Argentum, Grotte Argentée, Monte Argento... many names for a single place. Mt. Silver is one of the highest mountains in the world, it's right between Johto and Kanto, and people have been arguing about whe it should belong to for as long as anyone can remember. Right now it's acknowledged as part of Johto, but is in Kanto territory. Mt. Silver gets colder and more windy the higher you get, making living there almost impossible. The only inhabitants of Mt. Silver are pokémon; pokémon that have grown to resist the extreme weather conditions, and become as tough as the mountain itself, reason why only the most ambitious and experienced trainers approach it, and that's not common either.

However, that evening, some minutes before sunset two figures began to take form in the horizon. The first figure was slim and not very tall, not more than 1.50m. As clothing began turning visible, one could identify a plain white shirt, blue shorts and a matching baseball cap. The other figure was significally taller, over the 1.80m mark. Not much was distinguishible, besides some kind of rag that covered most of his body, his worn out shoes, and ruffled hair that hadn't been taken care of for a long time, and was just long enough to cover his eyes, hiding his face.

Maybe the most remarkable thing about these two trainers, for surely only trainers would dare to come this close to Mt. Silver, was the third, much smaller figure perched on the second figure's right shoulder. This figure wasn't human. It had slim, light-looking legs, a rather unusually shaped tail, and a set of long ears, that looked slightly similar to its tail. The creature seemed to mix with the oncoming darkness, with the exception of numerous white rings adorning its body, which seemed to glow with more and more frequency as the night approached.

The two travellers arrived at the mountain's foot, where they stopped walking, and began to talk.

"This is as far as I can go mister. Even my father's pokémon team has a hard time with the pokémon in the tall grass here." The shorter figure, now identified as a kid about 10 years old, informed.

The taller figure nodded, and said ,"It's okay kid, I think I can find a way through the mountain myself, I know there are many caves that go up."

The kid still seemed uneasy, not very convinced by his words,"Are you sure you want to go up there alone, mister? The pokémon in this mountain are the toughest in the whole region; most people can't make it past the first floor.

The traveller smiled at the kid, "As long as she's here, we'll be just fine, right?" He said pointing at the creature on his shoulder, that agreed with a single "Breon!","See? And stop calling me mister, I'm not that old. I'm like, what? Six, seven years older than you?"

"Okay, be careful." The boy said as he waved goodbye.

"Don't worry," Said the teen as he moved aside the dark blue bangs covering his eyes, revealing two crimson orbs,"we will."

And so, the traveller and his quadrupedal companion entered the cave, dimly iluminated by a little amount of Flash Moss, known for absorbing the power of the pokémon move Flash, perpetuating its effect.

"You know, I think you should step down. We are going to need full mobility in this place." The traveller said to his companion.

"Um."The creature said, looked at him for a second, and licked his cheek before jumping down to the rocky floor of the cave, making the traveller crack a smile.

"Don't worry, this will be a piece of cake. He isn't exactly easy to miss you know. I'm sure you will like him, although his sense of humor can be a bit abrasive... No, don't look at me like that, he's one of my best friends, but the truth is the truth."

The two of them kept walking through the cavern nonstop, and no matter how much they walked, their surroundings never appeared to change. After what seemed an eternity, but were actually no more than thirty minutes, a soft rumbling began to sound.

The creature's ears perked up "Breon!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's water. That means it's somewhere we haven't gone through yet. It's nice to know that we haven't been walking in circles." The traveller said, "Of course I already knew that." He added quickly, earning him the equivalent of a snort from his companion.

Soon, the couple reached the source of the sound. An underground river that descended from a waterfall about ten meters upstream. It seemed like a dead end: behind them, the way from which they came from, at their left hand, a powerful stream of water, at their right hand, a completely vertical wall, and in front of them, a similar wall, the only difference being its lower height, and being a bit more worn out.

"Darn! I should've seen this one coming, I knew there was a place like this somewhere." The traveller looked at the waterfall, and then at the wall with a calculating look. "I think we can do this. We've got two options, wall or waterfall."

"On, breon, um, umbreon, umbre." The criature seemed to suggest something.

"You are right, me neither, at least not up a waterfall, so we're gonna have to choose wall." He said. "You wouldn't happen to know Rock Climb, would you?" The creature gave a negative sound."Neither do I, not that I could learn it anyways... or you, now that I think about it."

The traveller looked at the wall, more specifically, at them point where the two perpendicular walls met. "I think I've got this. That wall is too steep and even, so how about some Shadow Balls?"

Seconds later, several explosions were heard, and a cloud of dust and smoke covered the two partners. From inside the cloud of dust several coughs could be heaard, and as the smoke began to fade away, the traveller and his partner became visible again.

"Maybe that was a bit too much, but it should work."The traveller said with his right arm protecting his mouth from the dirt. "Jump onto my shoulder, I'll take care of this." He told his companion, who didn't hesitate in doing as told.

The traveller relaxed his body, and exhaled, before taking a deep breath, and flexing his arms and legs, lowering his body slightly."Ready?" He asked after exhaling once again.

"Um." His partner answered .

He cracked his neck,"Then here we go." After taking one last breath, the traveller jumped with superhuman speed and power, about four meters in the air, towards the recently damaged wall, and just before reaching it, he flipped in midair, softened the impact with his feet, and bolted towards the perpendicular wall, on which he performed the same operation, and then again on the first wall, finally landing on the top of the second.

"Piece of cake. Which reminds me, do we have any apples left? I feel like eating one." Said the traveller as his companion stepped down.

"Um-on, umbreon bre-um, on." His partner said almost teasingly.

"No, not always; and you had some too, so don't blame me." He replied,"Anyways, I think somewhere around here there should be a..." The traveller's eyes stopped at section of the wall from which the moomlight was entering the cave. "There! Look, there's an exit." He said after scanning the area.

"Breon, umbre um." The creature said in a somewhat smug tone.

"But I said it was there, so it doesn't matter who saw it first. Let's go."

The treveller headed towards the exit, it wasn't too far away, just about 80 meters, but one would have to wonder how the traveller saw it in the middle of the , a bark from his companion stopped him on his tracks.

The traveller seemed to realize something."You're right, but where...?" Both he and his companion looked around the cave, focusing all their senses on the nearly absoulte darkness.

"Jump!" The traveller shouted. He jumped out of the way, and so did his partner, just in time to avoid a huge fur covered arm that came crushing down, destroying even the rock under it.

"Great, just great." Said the traveller while eyeing the newcomer.

This creature, although definitively not human, was bipedal and stood straight. It was big, even taller than the traveller, and twice as wide. Its whole body was covered in brown fur, with the exception of a yellow circle on its abdomen and the yellow fur that covered his stout muzzle. It had strong, rather short legs, and relatively long arms with five sharp claws each, and a short stubby tail. Above its wide muzzle, two small eyes could be seen, and two small squared ears adorned its head.

"Wow, it's the first time I've ever seen an Ursaring in real life." The traveller thought out loud. "I don't know why you attacked us, but we are just passing through, leave us alone, and we'll leave peacefully."

The Ursaring stared at the traveller with an slightly shocked expression. Who were this creatures that had intruded in her territory? They claimed to come in peace, but so many others had come with similar promises, only to capture her kin.

Then, the traveller saw another, much smaller form behind the Ursaring. It looked like an orange teddybear, with a moon shaped spot on its forehead. "Oh, I see, you are its mother. I swear we won't hurt your cub, please let us pass. A fight here could hurt your child."

The Ursaring growled at the traveller and his partner. It was a warning; she would let them go, but if anything happened to her kin, she would not let it pass.

The traveller seemed to understand,"Thank you for your understanding." He said, and began walking to the exit, followed by his companion.

The Ursaring didn't let them out of her sight until they walked out the hole that was the exit. The Ursaring was perplexed; never had such creatures entered this cave without the intention of capturing her kin, at least not that she new of, but there was something in the eyes of the tall creature that told her one thing: he, or rather, they were different.

The traveller and his companion continued to climb the mountain, this time from the outside, where the darkness and strong winds made climbing difficult. Soon, they arrived at a some kind of small plateau, covered in tall grass. They could see another entrance to the cave beyond the grass.

"He should be around here, probably inside the cave." The traveller informed his companion, who barked in acknowledgement.

They began making their way through the grass, having the luck that no pokémon found them. "Okay, we are almost there." The traveller said as they approached the entrance.

"Breon! Breon!" His partner announced alarmingly.

"What is it?" The traveller asked his companion, who kept barking and calling for him.

The traveller walked to his partner, and crouched down, to find a small grayish green body laying on the ground. The traveller looked both shocked and worried, the little body wasn't moving, or breathing. With some hesitation, the traveller proceeded to examine the body more closely.

"Um-breon?" Whispered his companion.

"N-no, it's not him. The age doesn't match..." The traveller sighed in relief."Also,it must've been here for some time, I'd say too much for it to be him, only the shell is left." The traveller put his hands together as in prayer."Rest in peace." He got up, and called for his companion."C'mon, we have to keep going."

The traveller's companion gave one last glance to the body, before following her partner, who was entering the cave at the moment.

"Hmmm, I can feel it, this is actually the same cave, just higher at that river. We are probably higher up than that waterfall from before." The traveller said inspecting the cave."Now, he can't be too far. Let's go upstream, going upstream always leads you somewhere, but be careful, the floor is slippery."

The traveller and his partner advanced through the dimly iluminated cavern, scanning every nook and cranny, looking for something, or rather, someone.

"Darn it, where is he? Stupid crazy old geezer, it's all his fault. I bet he couldn't find a more isolated place to send him." The traveller said as he began losing his patience.

"Umbreon, umbre-eon." His partner said, apparently as a rebuttal.

"The Southern Island! How do you even know where the Southern Island is? That's where? In Hoenn?" The traveller asked perplexed.

"Umbre umbre." His companion stated matter-of-factly.

"Did I? Really? My memory must be worse than I thought it was." He said scratching the back of his head.

"Anyways, I guess would be the logical choice, but-WOW!" The traveller was cut of by an enormous blue bat-like creature (with an equally enormous mouth and nasty-looking fangs) that almost bit his head off.

The flying creature attacked once again, trying to sink its fangs in his neck, but the traveller dodged it with ease."What the heck! A Golbat?" Said the traveller. The Golbat kept attacking, and the trveller kept dodging with mastery. He'd rather not hurt the pokémon, but he couldn't keep dodging forever.

"Stop it! I said stop! Really, I don't want to hurt you, but you aren't giving me many options!" The Golbat seemed to ignore the traveller's complaints, and kept rushing towards the traveller again and again.

"Um-eon, breon!" The traveller's partner exclaimed.

"No need to, I've got this." The traveller replied, he closed his eyes and relaxed his body. The Golbat came at him once again, but right before contact was made, the traveller disappeared and reappeared right behind the Golbat. The traveller kicked the Golbat and pinned him to the ground.

"Okay buddy, I've got things to do here, so if you just leave me alone, I'll let you go, deal?" The Golbat must have agreed, because the traveller let it go, and it flew away into the darkness.

The traveller turned to his partner."Now that that's been taken care of, I think we are deep enough into the cave to try different searching methods, don't you agree?"

"Um." Agreed his partner.

"Great. Then please, stand still, this takes a bit of concentration." The traveller closed his eyes and lowered his body sligtly, taking deep breaths. He stood like this for several minutes, before opening his eyes suddenly. "I've found him. Let's go!" His companion followed him through the cave, knowing that her partner knew exactly where he was going.

The traveller halted after some minutes and began looking around."He's gotta be right here..." He murmured. Then, both his companion and him were startled by a loud roar. A giant green creature appeared from underground. It was big, even bigger than the Ursaring from before, in both heaight an width. It had a dinosaur-like shape, and was covered in rocky green scales, with some black holes here and there, with a blue abdomen. Three horns came out of its head, and several spikes ran down its back.

"Holy $%¡#! A Tyranitar!" The traveller exclaimed.

The Tyranitar looked at the traveller with rage, and shot a huge yellow beam at him. Both the traveller and his companion jumped out of the way to avoid the attack, wich's sheer destructive power was enough to create a crater a couple meters deep, and at least seven wide.

"Aagh! Please, we don't want to fight, we are just looking for someone." This time, multiple rocks fell from the cave's ceiling, threatening to crush the traveller, who jumped forward, and slid between the Tyranitar's legs, not an easy task, having in count the length of its short legs and its tail.

The Tyranitar didn't appear to have realized that the traveller was currently standing right behind it, and began looking in the opposite direction.

The traveller was trying to think of a way to avoid the fight, when he heard a soft noise next to him. He looked for the source of the sound, only to find a small figure laying a couple of meters besides him. I looked remarkably similar to the one his partner had found in the tall grass, but this one was breathing and was a little bigger.

_Could it be?_ The traveller thought. Right then, the Tyranitar located him, and shot an stream of fire in his direction. The traveller dodged it, and hurried to get as far from the Tyranitar as possible.

"Please listen, we aren't trying to hurt your child, this is just a misunderstanding, that's not really your baby,-" He was cut of by another yellow beam, which he barely dodged.

"I see... So that's how it's gonna be?" The traveller said. He turned to his companion "Luna, move aside, I'll take care of this."

His partner nodded, and stepped back. He would be fine.

The Tyranitar roared, and began charging another beam of yellow energy. The traveller, adopted a battle stance, and his red eyes began glowing blue. "Let's do this!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And there you go, the prologue for my new story; it was supposed to be shorter, but I hope you liked it, in fact, I hope you liked it so much that you will have to click that pretty review button down at the botton. I don't know when the next chapter will be ready, I had to write this one, not because of me, but because of the plot bunnies, I always thought they wouldn't come after me, but here they are.

Please review!


	2. Awakening

Hi there! This is the second chapter of Before Dawn. Well, the first one actually, since the other one was just a prologue. It wasn't very successful, but I thank Macy Webber for her review, one is enough for me (but I won't complain if I get some more). This chapter might seem unrelated to the prologue, but it'll end up making sense. This chapter's release was full of trials and tribulations, I wrote almost two pages, and when I opened it again to keep going, everything had turned into #, and I couldn't fix it, so I had to write everything all over again, and then, I couldn't access my own stories to modify them, so well, yeah, it wasn't easy. As always, I thank my beta-reader Casju.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

**I: The Awakening**

Darkness. An endless sea of pitch-black nothingness. It surrounded him, as it had for quite a while. He didn't know where he was, or how he got there, he didn't even know what the place looked like, and he didn't know how long he'd be able to remember his own name in this absolute darkness. Of course, these weren't his exact thoughts, as he wasn't conscious enough to think in such complex ways; it was just his unconscious state of mind, or at least it was, until he awoke for the first time.

_Whe-where am I? Why can't I see anything? I can't feel a thing! Multiple_ thoughts rushed through his mind. He tried to move, but his body didn't seem to react; he tried to see, but there was only darkness; he tried to hear, but it was all silence; he tried to scream, but his voice failed him.

_What is going on! I want to get out of here! What happened!_ After a short while, he began to panic; he wanted to do something, or at least to know something, but all he appeared to be able to do was floating in the darkness, and it wasn't long before the strain his mind was going through became too much, and sleep took him away.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

His second awakening was similar to the first one, this time however, he was calmer, and didn't panic, allowing himself to have more rational thoughts and questions, such as _"Why aren't I breathing?", "How come I don't get hungry at all?", "Am I dead?, and "What's with this strange craving for apples?" _As expected, none of these questions were answered, and eventually he fell asleep once again.

The third time he woke up was however very different. The darkness was still there, but that's where the similarities ended, apparently. There was a very annoying ringing noise, like some kind of alarm or siren, that kept banging his head, and was probably what woke him up to begin with. He also seemed more aware of his surroundings, and could feel some kind of dampness around him.

_"What the-? What's that noise? Gawd, it's piercing my ears, but I guess it's at least some progress. Hey, I think I can feel my toes, or at least four, no, six of them, and-Huh? What's that? It looks like... light. _And indeed, it was a light; a dim blue light that seemed to sparkle and shatter the darkness momentarily, only to disappear, and repeat the process again.

He tried to get closer to the light, he tried to move his body, he tried with all his might. It took a little time and a lot of effort, but he could feel his arm moving in the darkness, getting closer to the light's position, moving just in the direction he wanted it to move. The light was closer with each second, just a bit more and it would be within his reach, just a bit mo-.

**BOOM!**

Suddenly, a loud bang resonated through his head, and everything around him seemed to vanish, even the darkness, that was replaced by a blinding light that consumed everything, immediately followed by the gentle darkness of unconsciousness.

An unknown amount of time later, he began to become conscious, and a feeling that he hadn't experienced for quite a bit was transmitted from his skin to his brain with a shiver.

_So cold... Wait, cold? I-I can feel my body again!_

Still somewhat dazed, and not without making quite an effort, he began to move his body. It hurt, it hurt from head to toes, and he was so stiff every movement was hell, but he could move, and he could feel, and that was enough of an improvement. Then, he realized that he hadn't tried opening his eyes, and doubted for a second, almost afraid of finding himself in the darkness again. That didn't stop him though, he didn't have that much to lose, so, slowly, he opened his eyes for the first time in what seemed ages, and for what seemed even longer than that, he saw.

_Y-yes! I can see! This keeps getting better._

He could see, and although it was dark, it wasn't "that" darkness, it was just the darkness of a dark room. He could make out faint shapes, and he could swear that he saw a light blinking somewhere for a split second.

_Ok, time to get up. I've been sleeping for too long, I'm not gonna stay here any longer than I need to._

The floor was somewhat wet, making it slippery, and his legs were still feeling weak, so he had a hard time getting on his feet, as they skidded and made him fall flat on his stomach several times. He also realized that his coordination seemed to be a bit off, and his steps were trembling and unsecure.

_C'mon, one step at a time. It's been a long time, although I'm not sure of exactly how long._

He wandered through the dark room without any concrete destination, but his visibility appeared to be improving, and the previously faint figures took a more detailed shape. He could make out some computers, scanners, monitors, and a multitude of other machines that he couldn't identify.

He had just come to the conclusion that this was some sort of lab, when he detected a movement at his right side. He stopped on his tracks and turned right, slowly. He scanned the area with his eyes, but nothing moved. He discarded the movement as just his imagination, and turned around, but with his first step, something moved again at his right; and once again he turned right to look, but nothing was there.

_This time I'm sure I saw something..._

He moved forward, in the direction he had seen the mysterious movements. As he walked, he began to make out a shape. It was facing him, and seemed to be getting closer, taking small, prudent steps, just as he was.

_Hn? What's that?_

The creature that had just become visible was rather small, or at least that was the impression it gave him, even though their eyes were at the same height. Its body was mostly covered in somewhat wet blue fur, with patches of black fur on its chest, feet, and ankles. It had a blue tail that was half its size, but seemed to stand on its own, without touching the floor. Its head was a bit oversized in comparison with its body, and had a pretty canine shape with a short muzzle, and what seemed to be two sets of ears; one composed of triangular blue ears at the top of the head, and a second pair, this one of black floppy ears. It had big red eyes, surrounded by a patch of black fur shaped like a mask. It stood on the balls of its hindpaws, and its forepaws were where human arms would be, giving it a somewhat humanoid shape.

_A pokémon... It's not from this region, and I'm pretty sure it isn't from Johto either. It looks a bit scared, but it seems harmless enough._

He began raising his hand towards the creature, and attempted greet it with a "Hi, little guy", only to realize that something was wrong, horribly wrong. Instead of his hand, he saw a furry blue paw with a white bump on it, and instead of saying what he had intended to, from his mouth came a soft growl that sounded pretty much like "Lu, rio-lu."

He froze. His eyes were glued to the blue limb, and his mind was rushing through a sea of possibilities and crazy explanations. After what seemed hours, he thought of the creature in front of him, and looked at it. It was still there, staring at him, with one paw stretched, one blue... furry... paw.

It was like a revelation. He rose his other arm, which looked just like his right one, and saw the creature do the same. Then, as fast as he could with his wobbly legs, he approached the creature, and it began doing the same. Once they both met, he encountered a metallic surface, and his worst fears were confirmed. He fell on her knees as he pressed his body against the surface.

_It's a mirror. Oh my God, it's a mirror! That thing... that pokémon... it's me! But how! What happened! This can't be! It's impossible! I... This is just... Oh God!_

He began breathing heavily and buried his head in his hands, now paws, feeling his short muzzle. His whole body was trembling with a mix of fear, confusion, and panic. He stayed there curled up in a ball for several minutes, trying to get a grip over the situation. After a while, he raised his head and stood up.

_Ok, ok. Get a grip on yourself. Think, how could this happen? What was I doing? Where was I?_

_-(Flashback thing)-_

_**"Hey are you sure we should go this way? The forest is getting very thick."**_

_**"Don't be such a sissy. You're a guy, you're supposed to be brave and courageous."**_

_**"It's called precaution and common sense, not fear."**_

_**"I think he's got a point; it's pretty late, and I've never been so deep into the forest."**_

_**"Precaution, bah! We'll be just fine-I mean, it's Viridian Forest."**_

_That's it! I was with the guys, in Viridian Forest. Hmmm... That doesn't help a lot; this doesn't look like a forest, at all. I wonder if the others are around here, and if... they're like this too._

He looked at his now fur-covered limbs. He only had three fingers in each of them, and they weren't very useful either. Then, he proceeded to observe his own reflection in the mirror. He was, most definitively, a pokémon. A pokémon he didn't know, probably from Sinnoh, since he knew each and every pokémon in Kanto, it had been a while since he had finished his studies on Johto pokémon, and he was almost done with Hoenn.

_Ugh, I'm all wet, I hope fur dries fast. I... Can't speak, can I? _He wondered, although he already was pretty sure of the answer.

"Rio." He attempted to speak."Lu, lurio riolu, rio." He tried again.

_It's no use... I'm a pokémon, and I speak pokémon. I wonder if I'll be able to understand other pokémon. What would my mother say? I hope this is reversible, she's got things tough enough as they are..._

It was just a random thought, one that he quickly dismissed, as he heard a cybernetic voice announce:

"POWER RECOVERED. SYSTEM VERIFICATION COMPLETED. 87% OF ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL. INITIALIZING ALL SYSTEMS

_What the-?_

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light covered his field of vision and he could only see white for several seconds. Gradually, his eyes began to get used to the now lighting of the room. Just as he had guessed, the place looked like some high-tech laboratory. Every inch of the room was metallic, and there were computers over computers everywhere.

_Wow! It's bigger than I expected... What am i doing here anyway?_

His crimson eyes explored the room, looking for an exit, but they widened when instead of that, he found seven transparent glass cylinders, big glass cylinders. They are almost three meters tall, and one meter wide. They were attached to a huge machine by several tubes and cables that were connected to the cylinders' metallic bases. All of them looked exactly the same, except for the last one, that had been shattered and was wet. The floor in front of the tube was covered in glass shards, and there was a puddle of light violet liquid.

_This keeps getting freakier. I'm pretty sure I've seen those in alien movies._

He approached the tubes, and saw there was a small metal tag bolted to each of their bases. All of them read "NX" and were followed by a number from 1 to 7. The broken one was labeled NX7.

_I hope these aren't what I think they are. _He moved towards the broken one, being careful not to step on the glass shards. _And I really hope this isn't what I think it is. _He looked at the cylinder and its surroundings more closely. _Doesn't seem like I'm gonna find out around here, I'd better keep moving._

He turned around and kept exploring the laboratory. It was surprisingly big, the different machines and computers formed walls that turned the place into a maze.

_Darn. I'm so short I can't even see over the computers. I wonder how tall I am right now. In fact, I wonder what I am right now. Something that contains the syllables lu, and rio apparently, but that's all I know, and-Ugh! What's that smell?_

He tried to cover his nose with his hands, failing due to the fact that they were now a muzzle and paws respectively.

_That doesn't smell like a lab, that smells like crap. God, it's like that fish someone threw into our garden last summer. Where is it coming from? It's very strong, it must be really close._

He decided to follow his nose in order to find the source of the stench; not because he really wanted to, but because he needed a target, and this was the only one he could find.

_Blegh! It keeps getting stronger, but I still haven't found it; either it's obscenely strong, or my sense of smell has improved. A lot._

Eventually, the smell lead him to what seemed to be a metallic doorframe, the door however, was nowhere to be seen. The smell was almost unbearable at this point, and he was doing all he could to smell as little as possible and not vomit.

_Great, an exit! Or at least somewhere new. Whatever the smell is coming from must be around h-_

His eyes widened and his body froze for a second. Immediately after that, his body bent and he made an attempt to throw up, but since his stomach was empty, the only thing that came out of his mouth was bile.

_Bwaagh! Oh God! It's a-it's a corpse!_

There was, indeed, a dead body laying on the room. The body was that of a man in his fifties or sixties, it had a partially burnt labcoat on, and was in a minor state of decomposition. He began to look for a way out of the room, besides where he had just come from. His gaze fell on a half open plastic door at the other side of the room. He ran as fast as he could towards the door, shutting it behind him. An audible 'click' was heard behind him, followed by a beep. He stood with his back pressed against the door, trying to calm down.

_Why? I mean-There's a dead body! Where have I ended up? What killed him! No, wait. This has been a hard day. Pull yourself together. Find out what happened. Find exit. Escape. Those are my priorities. But calm down first. Calm. Down._

The smell was still lingering in the air, but it wasn't as strong. In about ten minutes, he had calmed down and was ready to go.

_Let's see... First off, where am I?, What am I doing here?, And what happened to me? Hmmm... Let's take a look around, another look around I mean._

At one side of the room were several monitors, and several computers, keyboards, and many other forms of controlpads which's name he didn't really know.

_Tsk, everything is like three times bigger than it should be... That probably means I'm about three times smaller than I used to be. Shit... I guess I'll begin with those computers. I'll have to climb a little to reach the keyboard though. _He observed the wall of computers with a critical eye. _I think I could jump and reach the edge of that computer; from there I should be able to climb up to the controls._

And so, he gathered all his strength and lowered his body, flexed his knees, and prepared to jump. Something unexpected happened though. As his body became airborne, he quickly realized that he was ascending far more than he had initially calculated, and ended up crashing head on with one of the monitors.

_Ouch, my head. Darnit, why did I jump so high? Ah, of course, I'm pokémon, many pokémon can jump very high. I guess that's a perk. Now let's see, what are all these for? I know this OS, let's see if I can find something..._

He began to move through the different portfolios and files in the computer (not an easy task with his hands' current state), he even used the search option to find "NX", with little success however, as everything required a password, with only one exception: A red icon labeled "National PokéDex".

_Ooooh, it's got a PokéDex! That could be useful. Let's see... By type, number, alphabetical order, size, region... Let's try alphabetically, and by region. Ok, Sinnoh, with the "L"... Here! NO, wait, it looks alike, but it's not the same... An evolution maybe? Number 448, Lucario, fighting/steel, 525 average stats, evolves from Riolu! This should be it. _He looked for Riolu in the PokéDex. _There it is, or should I say, there I am? Number 447, Riolu, fighting type... Pretty nice, it could be worse, I could be... A Grimer, that would be horrible! Or a Voltorb._

He investigated the computer a bit more, but couldn't find any other file that didn't ask for a password. He left the computer he was working with, and moved to the next one, and then to the next one, but it was to no avail, the security was high in all of them.

_Looks like this is it-Well hello there security camera! What can you show me? Any interesting recordings? This says today is may 26__th__, so let's check yesterday, the 25__th__._

Luckily, the recordings weren't protected by any password, but they only went back a three days. The screen turned black for a second, and then turned on, along with other three monitors, all of them divided in four sections with different footages. Most of the screens showed motionless shots of different parts of the laboratory, but two of them called his attention. The first one showed the man he had found dead previously, but very alive, and working with the same computer he had been investigating before. The second ones was from a camera that had been recording a certain section of the laboratory, the zone with the strange glass cylinders.

_Ah! Just as I thought... It was probably that old man who did this._

Indeed, six of the seven cylinders looked just as they did when he saw them before, but the one labeled NX7 was still intact, and inside it, floating in a very light purple fluid was a blue creature, the blue creature he was now.

_There I am... I already suspected something. I mean, those are standard tubes for experimenting with people, anyone who has seen a couple movies knows that. I wonder what happened to that old guy._

He clicked the fast-forward button, and observed as the old man, after a long while of typing in the computer, moved towards a different keyboard, and lifted the peripheral, that had initially appeared to be fixated to the other machinery, to uncover a notepad. He opened the notepad and began writing on it, one he was done with it, he left it under the keyboard, and moved towards the plastic door that lead to the room where his dead body had been found. He swiped a card through a slot in the doorframe, and entered the room. Inside that room there were only two pieces of equipment: a computer, and a strange machine connected to the walls of the room through very thick tubes. The man used the computer for a short while, and then moved towards the other machine. The man moved a series of switches, and pressed a button. Suddenly the man began shaking and convulsing, and all the screens went black. The next footage was of the next day. The only differences with the previous one were a broken glass cylinder, the old man dead, and a blue pokémon on his knees in front of a mirror.

_What happened there? Let's see it again, this time in slow-motion. The guy presses the button, and he begins shaking, is he getting electrocuted? It looks like it. And just before the lights go out, my container shatters, I see. But the most important part is not that._ He walked on the computers, careful not to press any electrifying button, until he got to a certain keyboard. _It's this._

He lifted the keyboard, and found a notepad, THE notepad. It had a label that read NX, and it was divided in eight sections.

_Eureka. Now let's see... First section_

**NX Series:**

**Number of subjects: 7**

**Related Series: GR and NV**

**Success rate: 100%**

**Main goals: Solve lack of stability of the NV series. Reproduce the synchronization rate and stability of the GR series while increasing the survival rate.**

**Observations: First fully successful series. After the initial success, I decided to increase the amount of subjects from 5 to 7.**

**Stage 2 can be initiated for the first time since the GR series.**

**Subject: NX1**

**Gender: Female**

**Age: Approximately 15 solar years**

**Blood type: O+**

**Height: 159 cm**

**Weight: 51.7Kg**

**Selected Species: #133**

**Estimated survival chance: 91%**

**Synchronization rate: 96%**

**Stability rate: 79%**

**Result: Successful**

**Stage 2: Initiated**

**Location: Route 5**

**Observations: First subject of the NX series. First successful subject since the GR series. Due to the species used, both the synchronization rate and the survival chance are elevated, as in prior cases. The NX formula seems to be able to solve the previous issues of stability.**

He kept reading the profiles of the different NX subjects, and came into a realization when he had read the first four ones. But he waited to read them all before deciding anything.

**Subject: NX7**

**Gender: Male**

**Age: Approximately 16 solar years**

**Blood type: AB**

**Height: 180.5 cm**

**Weight: 72 Kg**

**Selected Species: #447**

**Estimated survival chance: 92%**

**Synchronization rate: 89%**

**Stability rate: 86%**

**Result: Successful**

**Stage 2: To be initiated**

**Location: Undecided**

**Observations: Seventh and last subject and success of the NX series. First subject in which a species from Sinnoh has been used. Unexpected fluctuations in the synchronization rate in the early stages.**

_Dammit! It's not just me. All the others too. They must've got us in Viridian Forest, and he did... this to us!_

He took a last look at the notepad, and deciding to take it with him, he headed towards the stairs at the other side of the room.

_NX7, huh? Well, NX7, AKA Jake Striker is going to find his friends._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Blam! There you go! Chapter 2, hope you liked it. Some of you might be confused, some of you might be angry because you don't like tf fics or because I didn't say it was at the beginning; but I'm pretty sure most of you already put 2 and 2 together and know where I'm going, right?

It took quite a bit, but I've been working on my other fanfic and a Naruto One-Shot I've had in mind for a while.

For those who are waiting for the next chapter of Broken Frontier, fear not! I'm on it, but it won't be out for at least a couple of weeks.

Please review!

I didn't want to include all seven profiles in the chapter, but I know some people might like that kind of stuff, so I'll include one in each chapter from now on. Even in this one I'll include an extra:

**Subject: NX2**

**Gender: Female**

**Age: Approximately 16 solar years**

**Blood type: B-**

**Height: 163:**

**Weight: 52Kg**

**Selected species: #036**

**Estimated survival chance: 82%**

**Synchronization rate: 85%**

**Stability rate: 83%**

**Result: Successful**

**Stage 2: Initiated**

**Location: Route 7**

**Observations: Second subject and success of the NX series. First subject of the NX series in which a non-normal type species has been used. Chance of survival reduced because of this.**

A/N: Sorry for the messed up chapter before, I'm not sure why that happened.**  
**


End file.
